Uber and Volkswagen Will Soon Let You Hop in a Shared Self-Driving Ride
Riders will be able to hail a fully electric, self-driving ride aboard the ID Buzz AD minivan. In April, the companies said they'll be deploying thousands of the minivans in "multiple" US cities over the next decade. Testing is slated to begin later this year, before the commercial launch in LA in 2026. Human operators will be on board the vehicles in the initial phase to ensure everything's running smoothly.
"Autonomous technology will drive a safer and more affordable future for everyone, and we can't wait to expand access to it around the world," Uber said in a release.
Currently, passengers in certain cities can summon autonomous vehicles through platforms like Uber and Waymo, but those rides aren't shared. Alphabet-owned Waymo operates fully autonomous rides for the general public in Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Austin, Texas, with a launch slated for Atlanta later this year. Depending on the city, you can either hail a Waymo through the company's Waymo One app or via the Uber app. Uber has teamed up with more than a dozen other autonomous vehicle companies, including May Mobility and Nuro.
Shared rides could also address concerns about self-driving cars adding to traffic congestion. Critics have pointed to the "empty miles" that come with autonomous vehicles roaming around between pickups. If multiple people hop in the same car, it's more likely that there'll be someone on board.
Shared autonomous rides are also a way for passengers to save money. In my experience, the cost of a Waymo in San Francisco is often slightly higher than a human-driven ride through Uber and Lyft. In cities where Uber offers rides aboard Waymo's self-driving vehicles, it says the price is comparable to a standard, non-AV ride. Shared autonomous rides take things a step further by giving you a discount -- with the cost being shared space with strangers.
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Can Lyft Win by Staying Small?
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Instead of figuring out the regulations, pricing dynamics, and competitive threats in every region of the world, Lyft can concentrate resources on improving service, increasing driver supply, and fine-tuning pricing where it already operates. Second, this singular focus allows management to dedicate attention and capital to its primary product -- ride-hailing. That's showing up in the numbers. In Q2 2025, Lyft reported a record 26.1 million active riders, a 10% year-over-year increase, and facilitated nearly 235 million rides, up 14% from the prior year. These gains suggest Lyft is successfully attracting and retaining customers and drivers alike, crucial ingredients for long-term viability. This strategy contrasts with Uber's expansive portfolio, which includes food delivery, freight, and fintech businesses across more than 70 countries. While Uber benefits from diversification, its leadership has to balance competing priorities and capital allocation. Lyft's leaner model is simpler but also potentially more efficient. Focus reflected in the bottom line That focus isn't just a talking point -- it's showing up in Lyft's financials. The company reported $4.5 billion in gross bookings for the second quarter of 2025, representing a 12% year-over-year increase. Net income expanded to $40 million, up from $5 million the previous year. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) grew 26% to $129 million, reflecting steadily improving margins, up from 1.2% in the second quarter of 2023 to 2.9% in the current period. Importantly, Lyft has turned positive on free cash flow -- a milestone in an industry notorious for cash burn. It first delivered positive trailing-12-month free cash flow (FCF) of $368 million in the second quarter of 2024. Since then, the FCF has increased to $993 million in the second quarter of 2025, representing a nearly threefold increase over the past year. With a growing free cash flow, Lyft can redirect it into further refining its operations, as well as its targeted expansion strategy -- starting with Europe. Europe enters the picture with the FreeNow acquisition Lyft's recent €175 million acquisition of FreeNow, a leading European mobility platform serving 180 cities in nine countries, marks a meaningful step beyond North America. FreeNow's established presence offers Lyft a ready-made platform to test its focused ride-hailing model internationally, expanding its addressable market while maintaining operational discipline. This move signals Lyft's intention to grow -- but on its terms. Instead of chasing global dominance, Lyft is opting for targeted, capital-efficient expansion that complements its core strengths. And the benefits could be massive. One thing to note is that Lyft's U.S. riders can now use the Freenow service when traveling to Europe, and vice versa for Freenow riders. 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Waymo's former CEO is not impressed with Tesla's Robotaxi
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Uber users in Atlanta are canceling rides with human drivers until they match with one of Waymo's self-driving cars
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The five rides that Nerney did take in Waymo vehicles had a few things in common, he told Business Insider: They all traveled four miles or less, cost no more than $12, and stuck to city streets instead of going on freeways. While the number of Waymo vehicles serving the city is likely small, Nerney said, it seems to him that they're gaining popularity with Atlantans. "Each day, I see Waymos with passengers more frequently," he said. An Uber spokesperson said that the company has dozens of vehicles operating in Atlanta and about 100 in Austin,where it launched the partnership in March. Atlanta will have a fleet of self-driving cars that will grow to "hundreds over the next few years," the spokesperson said. Riders can maximize their chances of being paired with a Waymo car by avoiding trips that involve freeway driving, riding outside high-demand times like nights and weekends, and making sure that their pick-up and drop-off points are within the current 65-square-mile Atlanta service area, the spokesperson said. An option in Uber's settings menu allows users to indicate that they prefer rides in a Waymo. A Waymo spokesperson said that the company is partnering with Uber in Atlanta instead of offering rides using its own app to reach more people more quickly. Some riders still have reservations about riding in autonomous vehicles Not everyone is as enthusiastic to get into a self-driving car as Galesic and Nerney are. In the US, many riders still have reservations about the safety of self-driving cars, said Frank McCleary, a partner at consulting firm Arthur D. Little's automotive and manufacturing practice. Deadly accidents involving self-driving vehicles are one reason that potential riders might be wary, McCleary said. "That negative news cycle has sort of pushed some folks away from it," he told Business Insider. In one survey conducted by Arthur D. Little last year, US respondents said by a 17-percentage point margin that they did not — and would not — use a fully or semi-autonomous car. However, most of the survey's respondents who reside in cities with at least 1 million people — the kind of dense, urban environments that ride-hailing services and autonomous-car-makers have focused on so far — said that they had or would take a ride in a self-driving car. Galesic thinks more people will become comfortable riding in self-driving cars over time, much like it took years for smartphones to become ubiquitous after the introduction of the iPhone in 2007, he said. "New tech doesn't become massively adopted overnight," he said. "It takes a long time." abitter@ or 808-854-4501.
